


The Video

by tbmd1066



Series: Pour le Prochain Chat Noir [1]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, I'm SORRY I just LOVE THEIR FRIENDSHIP GOD, Implied/Referenced Suicide, PV Major character deaths, mostly it's a nino/adrien bromance, the ladynoir is only in the last chapter of this work and it's pretty light
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2019-01-08 07:31:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12249834
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tbmd1066/pseuds/tbmd1066
Summary: Adrien and Nino are just joking around, until they find something that might just change everything Adrien knows about his life.





	1. Chapter 1

“Adrien?” a voice from outside called. Adrien nearly choked on the massive handful ofcheesy popcorn he’d just stuffed down his gob. He jerked his head over to where Nino was sitting, equally, if not more, full of popcorn. A muffled curse slipped past the popcorn in Adrien’s mouth. Feverishly chewing, he grabbed Nino by the wrist and jerked him up the stairs.

Nino was not supposed to be in Adrien’s room. 

Adrien shoved him into a corner and raced back on the stairs, somewhat impressed with himself for having not choked on the solid block of popcorn mush. He pushed that down his throat as best he could and opened the door.

“Yes, Nathalie?” he smiled sweetly, hoping that she wouldn’t notice he was nearly out of breath and had popcorn in his teeth. 

“I just came to tell you that your father’s flight has been moved up on Sunday. He’ll be arriving at 9:00AM, rather than 9:15.”

Adrien smiled again. “Oh, that’s great.”

“Yes, so be ready earlier in the day if you still wish to come pick him up from the airport with me.”

“I will! Thank you, Nathalie.” she hadn’t noticed a thing. She hadn’t even looked up from her tablet the entire time they’d spoken. 

As usual, that luck didn’t come without a price. As soon as he closed the door, Nino spoke up.

“Dude, do you… have a secret door up here?”

Adrien’s blood ran cold. “W-what?”

“Behind this bookshelf?” Nino grinned. “I mean, man, I knew your room was cool but—”

“It’s nothing!” Adrien said. “It’s…” Coming up the stairs, he saw that Nino had already swung the bookshelf out. 

“Dude, there’s a hallway!”

“I know, but—”

“Come on,” Nino cut him off. “Live a little, man!”

“That’s not what—” Nino was already going down the hall before Adrien had a chance to speak. “Nino! Nino!” Adrien gritted his teeth and darted after him. “It’s nothing exciting! It’s just a door to the room next to mine!” His heart pounded at the thought of having to go into that room.

“That sounds pretty exciting, though. Your house is pretty cool, dude.” Nino smiled. “Let me guess, you’re not allowed in there, right?”

“No, no I’m not.” Adrien frowned. 

Nino rested his hand on the doorknob.

“Nino…” Adrien glared at him.

Nino turned the doorknob.

“Nino, no!” 

Nino waggled his eyebrows at Adrien and slipped through the door. 

“Dammit!” Adrien raced after him.

Upon entering the room, he almost felt sick to his stomach. It was exactly the way it had been the last time he’d seen it. There was still dirty laundry folded in the hamper. The only change was the absence of activity. The deadly still atmosphere, save for dust motes floating through the air, caught in pale white sunbeams. 

“Aw, cool!” Nino laughed, breaking the silence. Adrien didn’t respond, his throat felt closed up. “Are these ballet shoes? Like the ones for standing on the point of your toes?” he asked, pointing to the shoes sitting neatly in a box on the table.

Adrien nodded. “Y-yeah.” They had been brand new three years ago.

“Awesome. It looks a lot like your room, but like, more muted colours, you know?”

“Yeah, I know what you mean.” It was all still so familiar, perhaps for that very reason. Probably not. “Seriously, Nino, can we leave?”

Nino finally seemed to notice how tense Adrien was. “Dude chill. It’s fine. I mean, it’s dusty as fuck, so it’s not like anyone’s going to catch us in here.” He descended the stairs from the balcony. “Oh, hey, neat, there’s a computer like your one.”

“Yeah, I know, it’s the same model.” Adrien said. Eventually, Nino was going to ask who’s room this was, and Adrien really didn’t want to answer. Nino was already snooping around the computer. 

“Hey, what…” He’d picked up a CD case. “What the…”

“What?”

“For the next Chat Noir… _”_ Nino read off the CD case.

For a moment, Adrien just stood still, not processing what Nino had said. When the name finally settled in he raced forward, practically yanking the CD case out of Nino’s hands. 

He recognized the handwriting. 

Adrien ran his finger along the edge of the case. “Did… Why…” He jerked his head back towards the secret door at the top of the stairs. “Come on, let’s get out of here.” he said. Nino seemed to finally have grasped Adrien’s seriousness, or maybe he just wanted to see what was on the CD. 

Adrien had half a mind to dig out the key and lock to door to this room, but… it could still be useful for sneaking out as Chat. At least, that was the excuse he’d been using for the last three years. 

“For the next Chat Noir,” Nino repeated. “What do you think that means?”

“I don’t know.”

“Should we show Alya?”

“I don’t know!” Probably not. Why had a CD addressed to Chat Noir been in there?? He slid it into the DVD slot of his computer hard drive. The file popped up, not as a CD, but a DVD with files on it. The DVD had the same title as the case. “For the next Chat Noir.”

Adrien double-clicked it. There was a folder on it, and a video. The folder was titled “family photos, 2000–2012.” Starting from the year Adrien had been born then, and continuing on to the year that… Well, he didn’t need that. The video said “For Chat Noir,” so he clicked on that. 

The video screen opened buffering.

“Should we be watching this?” Nino asked.

“Huh?”

“I mean, if it’s for Chat Noir, then—”

“I thought you were the one who wanted to live a little.” Adrien wasn’t worried about Nino seeing it. It was addressed to Chat Noir, not Adrien, so it wasn’t likely to betray his identity. And he supposed… well, if Nino was really his friend, and he was, then it was probably time to tell him. He knew about his mother leaving, after all. He could trust him with this too.

A very familiar face appeared on the screens.

“Dude, is that you?” Nino asked. The question was jarring. He did look like him. 

“No.” Adrien replied simply. He turned the sound down. It was unlikely that anyone would hear, but he wanted to be sure. 

The person onscreen sighed. “Hello.” he said, pale, already lifeless eyes staring into the camera. “My name is Félix Agreste. I am the current Chat Noir, and there’s some information that you need to know.”


	2. Chapter 2

“What?!” Adrien couldn’t have been more shocked. He’d thought from fighting pigeons and invisible girls, and even his own copy-cat, that there was little that could surprise him anymore. He was very wrong. 

“That is, if you are Chat Noir.” Félix continued. “It’s unlikely that Plagg will pass this on to my successor, of course. He is markedly unreliable.”

“Adrien—” Nino tried to interrupt.

“Shush!” 

“It’s much more likely that my father will find it, and dispose of it, or even that no one will find it at all.” Félix licked his lips. Adrien had never seen him this uncertain. “Hopefully, Adrien will never see it.”

Tears pricked at Adrien’s eyes. “Why?” he whispered.

“Ah, Adrien is my little brother, but that’s not really relevant to this. I’m rambling, sorry.” Félix cleared his throat. “In any case, I shall continue under the assumption that you are Chat Noir, as that is the entire reason I am filming this. I sent Plagg down to the kitchen to get himself some food, so that should give me about an hour and a half to film this and put it on the DVD.” Félix rubbed his eye, something Adrien had only seen him do once before. 

Had Félix been crying?

“This DVD will explain what you need to know about becoming Chat Noir. What you can, and cannot avoid, etc. I will not explain the powers, of course, since you’re bound to figure that out with perfect ease, if you’re at all clever.”

“Bit rude.” Nino muttered. 

“Shut up.” Adrien snapped.

“The first thing you need to know, of course, is that Chat Noir does not work alone. Ladybu—” Félix’s voice cracked, and he cut himself off. Adrien could see him gritting his teeth, and when Félix looked back at the camera, his eyes were cold and harsh behind tears. “Taking care of Ladybug is your number one priority as Chat Noir.”

Goosebumps ran down Adrien’s spine as he suddenly realized what had happened. Félix had failed to do this. Félix was Chat Noir, and his Ladybug was…

“I don’t have evidence to support my theory, but that doesn’t mean I have no basis for it. If protecting Ladybug is and always has been the main purpose of Chat Noir, it makes sense that Plagg chooses people who he knows will be willing to sacrifice their lives. He cannot guarantee their falling in love with Ladybug, though…” a tear fell from Félix’s face. “I don’t know how anyone could avoid it. If he cannot guarantee love, then he must chose someone who… who wants to end their life, but wishes to do so with purpose as well.” Félix smiled that awkward, tense smile that he had used to present when he was being particularly sarcastic. It wavered, and he wiped tears away with the back of his hand. “Like I said, I don’t have proof of this. I could be wrong… I doubt it.”

“Holy shit…” Nino said. 

Adrien wanted to say that Félix was wrong. But hadn’t he been throwing himself between Ladybug and danger for years now? And every time, hadn’t he always had a small thrill of excitement? The thought of seeing his mother and Félix, of ending everything? 

“The other important thing for you to know about being Chat Noir is that there are side effects. These may be effects of being a Miraculous holder, or more specific, ah, cat-related… effects.”

Adrien could say with certainty that he already knew all about that. From playing with stray threads constantly to actually becoming susceptible to cat nip… he’d experienced more than his fair share of side effects.

“For example, the intense desire to take cat-naps, insomnia during the night, heightened night-vision.” Adrien nodded, almost unconsciously. “The effects of being a Miraculous holder include improved dexterity, strength, and other senses. As for myself, I have also been able, mostly while transformed, to sort of sense, or remember, past events of previous Chat Noirs. If for example, a previous Chat Noir has experienced something in battle, you might be able to experience his memory and change your strategy. It…could have been more useful; I…” he paused, looking angry and bitter, far more so than Adrien had ever seen, even when Félix was fed up to the teeth with their father. “As such, I know how Chat and Ladybug function as a team, and I know what happens when one of them—”

“Félix?” another, younger voice came, quieter, from the speakers. Félix turned sharply in his chair. 

“Adrien, you’re home.”

Adrien’s heart nearly stopped right there.

“Yeah, I finished that book you loaned me.”

“Ah, lovely, thank you.” Félix stood and walked out of frame. “Did you like it?”

“Yeah, it was pretty good. I liked the ending a lot.”

Adrien didn’t have to see the smile Félix gave him to remember it. It had been a sad smile, and retrospectively, he knew why.

“I told you that you would.” Félix sighed. “It’s late, Adrien, go to bed.”

“Okay. Thanks, Fé!”

“Goodnight.”

“Goodnight!”

Adrien heard the door shut.

“Goodbye…” 

Adrien paused the video, and burst into sobs.

“Adrien!” Nino wrapped an arm around him, and Adrien buried his face into Nino’s shoulders. He wished he could explain, but he could barely breathe.

For years, he’d assumed that Félix had never said goodbye to him. Had never cared that he was leaving Adrien behind in this place, more a mausoleum now than a home. He did, though. Adrien could hear it in his voice. This was why Félix hadn’t wanted him to see the video, he was sure of it. It had been almost easier thinking that Félix didn’t care about him than realizing that he loved him and left anyways.

“Adrien?” Nino rubbed his back soothingly. “I, um, I think I’m beginning to get a picture of what happened here, do you, do you want me to stay, or…”

“Yes!” Adrien said. “Sorry, um,” he didn’t know quite what to say. “I’m fine, sorry.” Not remotely true, and of course, Nino wasn’t remotely convinced, but he pressed play again before Nino could say anything.

Félix walked back into frame and sat down again. “Sorry, I don’t have time to edit that out, I’m afraid. Where was I… Chat Noir and Ladybug are meant to work as a team. There oughtn't to be one without the other. I know that Tikki, Ladybug’s Kwami, will soon find a successor for Ladybug. And I know…” Félix took a shaky breath before continuing. “I know that I would be an unsuitable partner for her. I cannot bear the thought of continuing on, of failing this new girl, of looking at her every day and knowing that I couldn’t…” Félix was shaking, looking down. Adrien had never seen him so wracked with emotion. “It would be better for her to have an entirely new partner.” he looked up at the camera. “And if this does reach its intended recipient, then that’s you.” Félix leaned back in his chair, and picked something up. Adrien’s eyes widened as he recognized what it was. 

“That’s—”

“The events leading to… what I’m about to do, I guess, are important and relevant to you and to the next Ladybug as well. This is Hawkmoth’s Miraculous. I believe his Kwami is still inside of it. Hawkmoth is the villain that Ladybug and I have been fighting in secret for the last few years. He has the ability to take over a person’s free will and turn them into a monster.” Félix set the Miraculous down. “He killed Ladybug. And I killed him.”

There was a darkness over Félix’s features. one that Adrien recognized, as he’d seen it in his own features before. The deep need to protect Ladybug. The things that came with being Chat Noir that made him truly uneasy. Possessiveness, the temptation to destroy, to end battles with a quick and well-placed Cataclysm. 

“That’s the short version, anyhow. I’ll be leaving this Miraculous with the DVD, so hopefully it won’t fall into the wrong hands again.”

Clearly that hadn’t worked out as well as Félix had hoped. 

“That’s about all I have to say, really.”

“No!” Adrien leaned forward in his chair. 

“Take better care of your Ladybug than I did of mine.” Félix said. “Au revoir.” 

And the video ended. 


	3. Chapter 3

After a while, Nino finally spoke up.

“So, I can guess what happened after that.”

Adrien nodded. He took a deep breath. “It was… three, almost four years ago, now, I guess. After… this, I woke up from a nightmare. I went through the secret door to Félix’s room, because that’s what I always did after nightmares, but he wasn’t there. I knew that sometimes he’d sneak out, so I wasn’t that worried… About an hour later, I heard Nathalie running around all panicked. She barged into the room, didn’t even see me, just ran straight to the window.” Adrien couldn’t bring himself to say it. “Just like with my mom leaving, it was kept pretty quiet. Small funeral, never broke into any tabloids, somehow. Father never talks about it. Not about Mom, and never _ever_ about Félix.”

Nino was silent for a minute. “You never told me.”

Adrien shrugged. “I wasn’t trying to hide it from you, I just… I guess I wasn’t sure you’d appreciate me sobbing all over you, because that was bound to happen.” he laughed awkwardly. “You’re an amazing friend, Nino.”

Nino smiled. “You too, dude. You don’t have to go through this stuff alone.”

Adrien felt a whole new wave of tears washing over him. He practically fell into Nino’s hug, exhausted by relief, and overwhelmed all over by the grief of remembering Félix. 

“I lied to him about liking the book.” he said. “It was pretty awful.”

“Really?” 

“Mhmm. Really predictable, and the romance was just so cheesy and poorly thought-out.” Nino laughed. “It was one of those like, really cheap paperbacks that you’d buy at an airport because you forgot to bring anything good with you. I think it was called _Summer’s Passionates.”_

“Oh, God.”

“Oh yeah.” Adrien pulled back from the hug and slumped in his computer chair. “But he loved that stuff.” Adrien smiled. 

“Sounds like you two really got on.” Nino said.

“Yeah, we did. I mean, we argued our fair share, sure. I thought he was stuck up and rude sometimes, and I know he thought I was annoying, but…” Adrien poked at the computer mouse, hovering it over the video file. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to watch it again or not. “He was like my entire world when I was a kid. I thought he was just the coolest person ever. It was like everything I thought I knew shattered into pieces when he died.” Adrien moved the mouse over to the photos folder. “Nino, would you do me a favour?” he asked.

“Of course, dude.” 

“Please don’t tell Alya about the tape.” he said. “I’ll…I’ll figure out a way to let Chat Noir know about it. I don’t want my dad hearing about it.”

“I get it, man. This is pretty personal stuff.” 

Adrien smiled. “Thanks, Nino.”

“That said, if _you_ want to tell her, you know you can trust her, right? We’re all you’re friends, and we’re all here for you if you need us.” 

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Nino was right. Knowing he had friends he could talk about is problems with, and who could talk to him about theirs in return, definitely made things easier. 

“Now, dude. Don’t think I haven’t noticed that album that almost definitely contains embarrassing baby photos.” Adrien laughed. “I mean it, Mister! I will not rest until I have seen spaghetti-coated bath pictures.” 

“Well, gee, I don’t know if I have anything quite that specific…” Adrien double-clicked on the folder, opening up a new view of several more folders, each with a month and year. He clicked on the first one to see scanned photos of his pregnant mother holding his four-year-old brother in her arms. They were both making silly faces at the camera. Without saying a word, Adrien dragged the photo over to his desktop. He went back and started looking at photos from the month after he was born.

“Dude, oh my god, you were the cutest baby. What even.” 

“I think my face is about fifty percent cheeks.”

“Yeah, and forty percent _eyes!”_ Nino exclaimed. Adrien laughed. He scrolled through a few more baby pictures before taking a look at the other folders more carefully. 

“Hey, I remember this!” he clicked on it. “These are from the time my mom took us to the zoo and I got to hold a baby bat and it was so cute that I cried.”

“It amazes me the things you will cry at.” 

“You haven’t seen the picture yet. It was so cute.” Adrien found the picture and clicked on it. Nino immediately burst out laughing. 

“YOUR FACE!!” he laughed.

“Shh! Keep it down!” Adrien shoved him. “Nathalie’s not supposed to know you’re here!” 

“Please send this to me, I need to make it my profile picture on all social media and show it to all our friends, _please_!” 

“Nino!” 

“I’ve finally found it! An unflattering picture of Adrien Agreste!” 

“I opened it and showed it to you!” 

“I feel like Indiana fucking Jones!” 

Adrien grinned. “If you think this is bad, you should see when I tried to hand it to Félix.” Adrien clicked through the next couple of photos, each one making the two boys laugh harder and harder at Félix’s appalled face. 

“I take it Félix didn’t do as much modelling as you do?” Nino wheezed. 

“He’s so unphotogenic.” Adrien laughed, still giggling. “I mean like, in videos and in person, he was fine, but I doubt there’s a single decent photo of him on this entire thing.”

“Amazing.” Nino grinned. 

“Yeah…” Adrien sighed happily. “It’s been too long since I last looked at these.” 

The knowledge of everything his brother had said in the video was still running through his mind at an alarming speed. He needed to tell Ladybug about their predecessors. He needed to have serious words with Plagg for keeping these secrets. For choosing him right after letting his brother die. But for now, for now he was happy to share his memories of Félix and their childhood with Nino.

For now.


	4. Chapter 4

Chat Noir stood at the top of the Eiffel Tower, looking out over the beautiful city of Paris. This was another thing he had to be grateful for. His powers allowed him to see the city in a way that no one else ever could.

Well, almost no one else. 

“Hello, Chat.” Ladybug said after zipping up to the platform.

“I’m glad to see you, Ladybug.” he said. He meant it. There was none of the usual joking tone to his voice. He’d been thinking in circles all night since watching the video with Nino. So far he hadn’t really been able to resolve anything. He was far too angry with Plagg to hash it out with him. Nino had stayed late, and Adrien appreciated that, but right after he’d left, Adrien had transformed and taken to the sky to meet Ladybug for patrol. 

Ladybug of course noticed Chat’s sobriety. “Is everything okay?”

Chat swallowed hard. “I don't know where to start.” he said.

Ladybug sat down next to him and took his arm. “I know it’s hard for us to talk about our problems together because of our secret identities, but Chat, if you need to talk to me, I want to listen.” 

“It’s…sort of about my civilian life.” he said. “It’s sort of about the Miraculouses.” 

“The Miraculouses?” 

He nodded. “Yeah…I’ve…I’ve discovered the identity of the previous Chat Noir.” he said. “Apparently he left a note… er, a video, talking about what happened before the Miraculouses were passed on to us.” he was shaking slightly. Whether it was with anger, or fear, he couldn’t say. He was sure it didn’t slip Ladybug’s notice. She held on tighter to his arm.

“What was it?”

“They…fought. They fought Hawkmoth just like we do. But, when they found him, and tried to stop him, h-he k…” Chat took a deep breath. “He killed the previous Ladybug.” 

Ladybug inhaled sharply. “That’s—”

“And then Chat Noir, he killed Hawkmoth. I don’t know if it was self-defence, or if… It couldn’t have been, he-he wouldn’t!” Adrien didn’t want to believe it. “I knew him, Ladybug! I… I never knew he was Chat Noir, but…” a tear rolled down the edge of his mask in just the way he hadn’t wanted it to. “I’ve known for a long time that I didn’t know him as well as I thought I did. If I had known him better maybe…maybe I could have stopped him.” 

“From killing Hawkmoth?” 

“No…” Chat buried his face in his hands. Ladybug’s arm moved around his shoulders and he leaned into her touch. 

“Chat, you said you know who he was. Who…is it important? I mean, if it was someone in your life…what happened to him?”

“He was my brother.” Adrien said. “He committed suicide almost four years ago.”

“Oh my God, Chat—” 

“It was right after the fight. I never knew. I never knew why. I don’t know…God, I don’t know what to think.” 

_“Merde,”_ Ladybug said. “I mean, knowing that what happened to our predecessors was so horrible, that’s…that’s one thing, but it being your family? I… Chat, I’m so sorry.” 

“I never really understood why he did it.” Chat said, sitting up. “But after hearing everything…I guess it makes sense.” he swallowed hard. “We always win the battles. But after learning about this, I think Hawkmoth is going to be a lot tougher to beat than we thought.” he looked into his Lady’s bright eyes, shining with emotion that mirrored his own. “I’m scared.” he said. “I don’t want to lose you. I don’t want that to ever happen to us.”

“It won’t.” Chat looked up sharply upon hearing the edge in her voice. “Yes, maybe it’s going to be harder than we imagined. But we’re strong, and we’ll be ready. We’ll be careful.” 

Ladybug took Chat’s face in her hands and looked him dead in the eye. “I am not going to leave you. We’ll be okay.” 

Chat just stared at her. He wondered if his brother’s Ladybug had said the same thing. From watching the tape, he knew that Félix had loved her just as much as Adrien loved the girl staring into his eyes now. This wasn’t something they had control over. He didn’t know what to do with his brother’s warning. Surely Félix had known that the next Chat Noir wouldn’t change his ways. He wouldn’t stop protecting his Lady. He wouldn’t stop… Adrien wouldn’t ever stop thinking of her as more important. No matter how much she hated it, even though he knew in some ways it wasn’t true. Paris needed the Miraculous Ladybug. They would need that cure. 

_I’ll save you if you save me_ , he had said once. It was what he relied on. That even if everything went sideways, his Lady would be there at the end to pull him back, from death even, if necessary. 

“You…you’re so important to me, Ladybug.” 

She smiled. “You’re important to me, too, chaton.” she brushed his bangs back and kissed his forehead. “Trust me. We’ll make it through this.” 

Chat smiled back. Maybe, just maybe, he believed she was right.

They stayed sitting together, her arm around his shoulders, for some time. The patrol somehow didn’t seem to matter much. It was getting late. His eyes were slipping shut. He almost didn’t hear her ask.

“Do you want to talk about him?”

Chat Noir raised his head from his Lady’s lap. “About…”

“Your brother—the last Chat Noir.” she said. Adrien’s throat felt tight. No one had asked him about Félix in years. Well, Nino had, of course, earlier that day, but…

“He was the best.” Adrien said emphatically. “Also, maybe sometimes he was the worst, but that’s just how brothers are.”

Ladybug laughed. “Are they? I haven’t got any siblings.” 

“We fought all the time, like,” Adrien smiled at the memory. “Whenever I’d be practicing piano, he’d come in and start dancing to it to distract me. It was funny, but it drove me up the wall because I could never concentrate. And he was so rude! He was never comfortable around strangers, so he came off really cold, and if he disliked someone? Well, he’d make it pretty, um… pretty clear.” Adrien rubbed at the back of his neck. “Sometimes it was funny, but ah…” he shrugged. “I dunno. He always tried to be so serious, but it was pretty easy to get him riled up. We got on each other’s nerves a lot. I was pretty annoying when I was a kid—”

“I can imagine.” Ladybug raised an eyebrow. Chat elbowed her. 

“Oh come on, you know you love me, my Lady.” he grinned. She scratched his head behind his faux ears. 

“Yeah, yeah, kitty.” she smiled. He leaned into her touch and sighed. 

“But y’know, when he did open up? It was amazing. He was so _funny_. Such a drama queen.”

“Hm, sounds familiar.” Ladybug said. Adrien shook his head.

“Nah, I’m nothing compared to him. In the drama department, I mean.” he swung his feet over the edge of the platform, looking out at the city, window-lights sparkling like steadfast stars. “He could get so melodramatic. Like he was living in a soap opera. I think he did it to make me laugh.” Adrien took a deep, difficult breath. “He was just… so alive? I never…I never saw it coming.” 

Ladybug nodded. He could see that she wasn’t sure what to say. He didn’t know that he wanted her to say anything. If she could just keep holding him like this, maybe things would be okay. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to go back and add a little more here. I've been thinking about Felix's character, and how it will/will not show up quite how I want if I continue this due to...plot circumstances. So I wanted to have Adrien talk about it a little here. 
> 
> Basically, since Felix is a prototype of Adrien, they're really similar. I see lots of interpretations of Felix that try to make them different, and I get it, because that's generally more interesting. I've seen ones that look at Felix's Chat persona and say that he's faking it, or they'll just ignore it, but I believe it's just as much a part of Fe as it is of Adrien, and since they're the same character, it's probably for very similar reasons. For Adrien, Chat isn't exactly an act, but it's a way to break out of the high-class propriety expectations that he's put under. Chat isn't a character, and neither is Adrien, but both are different faces that one boy shows under different circumstances.   
> That said, Adrien's character really shifted with development. (Which is great, because I really love Adrien's character and how he's written.) Felix is a lot more extreme. Instead of just being reserved and shy, he comes off as almost cold and even rude towards PV Marinette (or Bridgette, whatever.) He's quiet, serious and somber, but his Chat is completely wild.   
> So how the fuck does that work? In the same way as Adrien? It could be, I guess, but the basic theory I'm working with for now is that the grim Felix is not a lie, but just the side of his personality he displays towards strangers, while the over-the-top Chat personality is what he shares with very close friends and family, (So pretty much ONLY his Ladybug and Adrien lmao. Make some friends, Felix!) and there are mediums in-between those. Like for acquaintances and his father.   
> That's pretty much what I'm going with for now. Let me know what you guys think!   
> I also want to thank you for all of the lovely comments I've received since posting this. You guys are the best, and honestly, you're the reason I'm delving into all of this. I probably will be working on a continuation, but I don't know when I'd post it. I hate leaving people hanging for new chapters. I know I'm doing that with the Levihan fic I've been working on for...two years? Something atrocious like that. I haven't had a lot of writing motivation over the last couple years. I mean seriously, I started writing this in May 2016... So getting such positive feedback is realy lovely. Good to know I haven't lost my touch! 
> 
> Thank you all so much!

**Author's Note:**

> I'd really love to maybe continue this work on after, and explore what happens. It depends. I've been writing a lot less than usual lately, even though I do enjoy it. Idk guys, the motivation bug just isn't biting. But if it does, I hope you'll enjoy. I got a lot of angst planned out, and boy howdy I know you guys like angst. For now I'll stick this in a series, and if it continues, well, stick around to see, if you'd like.


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